Legislation

After a week of declarations and revisions, the Senate has postponed their consideration of a CR until Monday. Congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle conceded they are not prepared to wrap up negotiations this week. Congressional leaders and appropriators have been working on the funding bill since coming back into session earlier this month….

Writing a stopgap spending measure, known as a Continuing Resolution (CR), to avoid a government shutdown on October 1st, just got a bit harder than lawmakers anticipated. Typically, CRs extend current funding levels into the new fiscal year for a short duration. Unfortunately, there’s a hitch this time. If current FY2016 funding is simply extended, it…

Congress has left town for its seven-week summer recess, having made progress on considering FY 2017 appropriations measures, but both chambers left town without a clear path forward. For the first time in many years (since FY 2010), the House and Senate Appropriations Committees have approved all 12 of their respective FY17 appropriations bills, although none…

After three days of amendments, the House passed yesterday the FY2017 Interior Appropriations Bill (H.R. 5538) by a vote of 231 to 196. The $32.1 billion spending bill passed the House for the first time since 2009. The measure that takes aim at the Obama’s environment and climate change agenda would cut by $64 million the…

Today, the White House issued (another) veto threat via a Statement of Administrative Policy (SAP) about the House’s FY 2017 Interior appropriations bill. The White House said the bill underfunds core Department of the Interior (DOI) programs as well as the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) operating budget, which supports nationwide protection of human health, and…

With only five days left before a seven-week summer recess, Congress will at least try to keep up appearances. The House Appropriations Committee is scheduled to complete work on the final two of the 12 annual spending bills needed to fund the government for FY 2017. Meanwhile, the full House is set to vote on its FY…

In a remarkable change of pace, the House and Senate came to a conference agreement on S.524, Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act this Wednesday. The agreement contains numerous provisions to combat increasing rates of opioid drug abuse, including through modifications to prescribing and pain management practices, by creating or modifying programs to expand access to treatment,…

The House Freedom Caucus is pushing for a vote next week on a six-month stopgap funding measure that would last until March 2017 and effectively end the appropriations process for the year. The plan would postpone decisions on FY 2017 spending until a new president and Congress are elected. At present, House Republican Leadership is considering the…

The House Appropriations subcommittee marked up the FY 2017 Labor-H appropriations measure today. The legislation includes funding for programs within the Department of Labor, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Education, and other related agencies. No report language has been released, so details of the bill will likely remain unclear until full committee…

Today, the House and Senate aviation committee leaders from both parties agreed on a reauthorization of aviation programs through Sept. 30, 2017, at current funding levels. The current authorization (PL 114-141) expires July 15. The measure includes provisions designed to reduce the risk of drone accidents and establishes a process for the FAA to designate drone…